Sunday's 12th Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe start is postponed, skippers respond favourably
by La Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe 5 Nov 2022 14:02 PDT
La Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe © Arnaud Pilpré
The start of the 12th edition of the Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe solo Transatlantic race from Saint Malo to Guadeloupe has been postponed from Sunday's scheduled 1302hrs local time gun until either Tuesday or Wednesday because of forecasted extreme weather and sea conditions in the English Channel.
Race management's decision was taken in collaboration with Météo Consult forecasters, OC Sport Pen Duick, the organizer of La Route du Rhum - Destination Guadeloupe, and Race Director Francis Le Goff. When it was announced to the 138 skippers at the scheduled weather briefing this morning in Saint Malo's Palais du Grand Large auditorium, the decision was greeted by a loud, spontaneous cheer and unanimous applause. A considerable build-up of tension among the skippers of all classes, from the Ultim 32/23 to the Rhum Multi and Mono divisions alike, was released in a moment.
The rescheduled start is expected to be Tuesday November 8 or Wednesday November 9.
Speaking to the fleet from the stage Race Director Francis Le Goff, said: "We have received and listened to all your comments and worked together with MétéoConsult. Clearly the conditions after the start in the Channel" create a "blocking situation. Sunday's start is therefore postponed probably to Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning.The safety of the sailors and their boats takes precedence," emphasized Le Goff.
Hervé Favre, the president of race organisers OC Sport Pen Duick, declared: "This decision was imposed upon us just like so many adventures that occur in ocean racing. Nonetheless this race will be great"
"We are going to try to reorganize everything to maintain a high level of activity on site and preserve the mood of the race on start day, " enthused Joseph Bizard, manging director of OC Sport Pen Duick.
While the forecast showed gusts over 45kts and huge seas in the Channel Sunday into Monday, the outlook for the middle of the week are more favourable for the start of this 12th edition. It is the first time since the race was first contested in 1978 that the start has been postponed.
They said
British skipper Sam Goodchild (Leyton) who is among the favourites to win the Ocean Fifty multihull division commented: "Right or wrong the good thing is the decision is made for us all and that is good. Some of us were already asking the question whether it would have been wiser to have stayed and waited for the weather to be better and for me, going out trying to win, that was an option. But now it is good that the decision is taken for us. And we have a great team around us, we are always ready for anything and this is the Route du Rhum in November and we had discussed this possibility."
Germany's Boris Herrmann who is due to set out with his brand new, relatively untested IMOCA Malizia-Seaexplorer, said: "There is a certain relief. We would have accepted any decision that race direction made including leaving tomorrow if that was what was to happen. But this gives us a just a little more time to tweak and finesse the little details. The weather situation was very challenging. For me I was more worried about the first two hours of the race than the big cold front. Tacking upwind in a narrow corridor with 138 boats between the wind farm and the exclusion zone, that is what made me not sleep last night. Any direction other than what is forecast is better. 260deg TWA is like straight upwind. Any wind direction is better."
France's Charlie Dalin, the outstanding top seed in the 38 boat IMOCA fleet, commented on the news, "When I came to this briefing this morning I was not expecting this, I was fully expecting to go, I was ready to go and follow the organisation's will. But I respect the decision. I will be ready to go whenever the start is. I am neither happy nor unhappy about it, I just get on and deal with it. It is not about being happy or unhappy."
"Nobody really wanted to go into that. The wave height was nasty. I just was not expecting this decision. I am surprised and processing it. I thought they would say 'it is your decision to race' and then give people the option what to do. So, I am surprised. And it makes it very difficult for the teams like ours now." Declared GBR Medallia's skipper Pip Hare.
Past winner of La Route du Rhum - Destination Guadeloupe in the Class40, Yoann Richomme on Paprec-Arkea said: "The decision comes as a surprise to me because I was focused on a race start tomorrow. I have learned over the years, before each competition, to focus on one objective at a time and not to scatter myself in lots of different scenarios. So I hear this this morning, I accept it. I think it is a correct decision by the race direction who must make their decision based on many different factors of safety and organizational issues across all classes. Us? We are going to focus on giving the sponsors who came to see us for the start a good time, trying to get them to participate as much as possible in what a race start would have been like. And it's only a postponement for a start on Tuesday or Wednesday."
Jean-Pierre Dick skipper of Notre Méditerranée - Ville de Nice, racing in the Rhum Mono class responded positively to the organisers' decision: "We were rather expecting that after looking at the charts this morning. I think a huge majority of the skippers approve this decision. To be honest, we all love our boats. It would be a pity to break our boat in these conditions, so it was a wise decision."
Race veteran Marc Guillemot, with five editions under his belt, this time is competing in the Rhum Multi class on board METAROM MG5: "It was the best decision that Francis Le Goff could take. We all understand it can't have been easy in an organisation like the Route du Rhum - Destination Guadeloupe. In the Rhum Multi category, we had already taken the decision to start and then return after the Fréhel buoy to be able to set off again on Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning."
Find out more at www.routedurhum.com/en